Following its mission to Cyprus the International Monetary Fund said that “sizeable downside risks” still exist, citing an extremely high private sector debt and a high proportion of non-performing loans (NPLs).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on Cyprus to speed up reductions in public and private debt to rebuild confidence and deliver balanced, sustainable growth, and support balance sheet repair.

The Bank of Cyprus has established a Real Estate Management Unit that aims to acquire real estate in a voluntary asset-to-debt swap of non performing delinquent borrowers that would otherwise follow the foreclosure process.

Confidential information from the Central Bank released by StockWatch today puts the level of non-performing loans of the domestic banks at €23 billion requiring several billions more to recapitalise them.